Shadow army

Shadow army
Chapter 166

Thane’s POV

There was a sudden, violent sucking force that seemed to drag at my entire being, like my flesh was being tried to be pulled right off my bones the very second Ruby crossed the threshold. 

I resisted with every bit of power that was in me, my shadows clawing at the air to stay anchored, but it just seemed like this one was nothing I could do to go against. 

I watched as my shadow was snapped out of Ruby’s own shadow where I had been hiding and now left a puddle of black shadow right in front of the threshold on the cold pavement. 

That was when I noticed the glowing red line that was printed into the floor in front of the hotel where Ruby had just gone over. The more my eyes traced the curve of that light, the more I knew that things were definitely not looking up for us. 

The red line seemed to go around the building as far as my eyes could see, and I was sure it circled the entire hotel, probably as a ward to keep other shadow users that were not wanted in out.

Without even thinking about the risk, I emerged from the puddle of shadow on the ground, revealing my physical form in a burst of dark energy. There was no way I was just going to stand here and let Ruby walk in there alone.

I noticed that even as I revealed myself and stood tall, the guards stationed around the doors didn't even seem to flinch or reach for their weapons. They just stood there like statues. 

I proceeded to take a step forward with my jaw set, but it was just like me trying to make myself past that red threshold triggered something in the air. In the next second, I watched as the entire image of the wedding decorations, the stoic guards and the other guests going into the lobby slowly began to tear down. It looked like a painting that had been plastered on top of the real world, and now the paper was ripping away.

‘’Shit.’’ That was the only word that left my mouth as the reality of the situation hit me hard. I realized I had just walked right into a massive trap, and Tautia had been just a step ahead of me the entire time. The whole setup had been am illusion of a fake world built to lure us in, and now it was vanishing into thin air before my eyes with Ruby still inisde. 

My mind spun in that second faster than it had ever done in my entire centuries of existence as a cold sheen of sweat rolled down my back. My heart stilled in my chest as the luxury hotel dissolved into grey mist. 

To make matters even worse, the ground beneath my feet suddenly felt like jelly, losing its solid shape entirely. I went sinking in like a heavy stone dropped into deep water and the floor swallowed me whole. 

All I could do was brace myself seeing as there was nothing my shadows could do to stop the fall no matter how much I tried to lash out and find a grip on something solid.

In the next second, I felt a fast falling sensation from a great height and then, my feet came in sudden contact with the solid ground beneath me as I landed from the fall. 

The shock traveled up my legs, and my eyes sharpened as I took the sight in front of me in. I seemed to be underground or something similar, maybe a massive cave, as both the high ceiling and the ground had a similar, jagged texture that looked like cold stone. The surrounding area was so dark it would have blinded a human, although that was no problem for me as I could see perfectly well in the pitch black.

Where the real problem came was the standing figures that filled the space. They looked like they were made of carved wax, standing perfectly still without even breathing. They had humanoid shapes but distorted, darkened features that looked like they had been melted and reshaped. 

I didn't even need to guess what they were as my shadow was already lashing out and going haywire from my skin, reacting to the large number of shadow users here, I looked around at the sheer number of those wax-looking, distorted human shapes. 

There were thousands of them,It went on and on for as long as my eyes could see,waxy bodies that seemed to fill every inch of the massive cave. Just one thought came to my mind as I stood there paralyzed by the scale of it, this was the shadow army Lydia had reported about. 

If her coordinates were right, I must be trapped underneath the volcano right now on the outskirts of the city. That just translated to being several miles away from Ruby, who was at this very moment stuck in an unknown situation all alone. My chest tightened at the thought of her facing Tautia without me there.

‘’I fucking need to find a way out of here,’’ I whispered in pure frustration under my breath, the words barely audible. I turned my body slowly, my muscles locking up as I hoped to not make any sudden move that would end up waking this vast silent army up. 

I struggled to get my shadow under control, feeling it thrashing beneath my skin like it wanted to lash at the surroudning ones. My eyes snapped all around me, darting from one distorted wax face to the next, trying to find perhaps an exit or a weak point in the rock. To be honest, I didn't even know exactly what I was looking for.

I took slow steps around the circle of the cave which was free. My feet didn't make a sound on the jagged floor as I moved as light as a feather, heading for the wall that looked closest to me wvwn as the heat was becoming unbearable.

My hand pressed flat against the stone, and Ididn’t even react as the hot and steamy wall bit into my palm. With a deep, forced breath I closed my eyes and focused everything I had. It took a while but I could finally hear a faint, distant sound. It was the sound of crickets chirping away at the night from heaven knows how many layers deep this wall was.

I just needed to make a way through this and I should be on my way out from here. The goal was to not disturb the sleeping army. With precise, trembling control, I slowly let my shadow's tendrils slip right out of my skin. 

Sweat was beginning to glisten on my forehead and down the exposed center of my chest due to the incredible rising heat in this place. I could already feel my feet sizzling as my shoes had already melted through against the floor. 

My shadow slowly came in contact with the wall as I began to drill in absolute silence. But there was a fear I had dancing at the back of my mind even before I started drilling in the wall, and it seemed I ran out of lucky charms because that was exactly what happened next.